Chapter 225: Finished. Sleep

The purple-gold skeleton stepped forward, its toe bones digging into the earth; the soil could not withstand its instantaneous burst of power, so before the burst, a circle of purple luminescence flared on the ground, then shattered.

This purple luminescence stabilized the ground, granting the purple-gold skeleton its terrifying burst of force—it kicked off, and its entire body shot forward like a cannonball.

In one step it covered more than ten meters, feet crossing, speed surging; the purple-gold skeleton seemed to tread upon concentric rings of purple ripples, hurtling toward the wall like a cannonball.

Most people did not recognize the Lord of Mourning, but Daisen's tone and inflection conveyed the gravity of the situation; instantly, the Soul Tower's power was pushed to its maximum.

There were four Soul Towers in Shengbicheng: two on the walls, two on the second-tier platforms behind the walls; each tower was a heavily guarded forbidden zone, for entering one revealed a horrifying sight: countless skull bones stacked inside.

Each skull was placed atop a tiny array, densely packed—possibly tens of thousands.

When the Soul Tower's power reached its peak, all these arrays ignited, and the skull bones, as if in slumber, ignited roaring flames in their eye sockets.

Everyone assumed the Soul Tower was merely a device for killing souls; few knew that the very souls powering the tower were the undead.

These skull-only skeletons had no autonomous consciousness; they were merely energy sources. Each soul was not particularly strong, but when tens of thousands converged, they could unleash soul lightning capable of overwhelming dimensional beasts.

Soul lightning also dealt extra damage to undead creatures; now, only a single purple-gold skeleton charged forward, so the Soul Towers did not need to split their targets—everyone couldn't help but anticipate the effect of the soul lightning.

Soul lightning was merely a metaphorical description; it was not actual lightning, but a soul impact.

When immense soul energy struck an enemy, it triggered a phenomenon resembling black lightning—so it was not lightning striking the enemy, but the impact itself generating the "lightning"; if the enemy was weak, it might not even trigger this phenomenon.

The purple-gold skeleton's body trembled as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, halting momentarily; thick black lightning bolts splashed outward from its back, making it look like a porcupine bristling with spines.

One Soul Tower emitted countless piercing wails; thick black smoke could faintly be seen surging from its summit, and the temperature around it dropped by three or four degrees.

Inside the Soul Tower, the souls of the ten thousand skulls exploded simultaneously, turning into wisps of black smoke that rose upward; a few sank to the tower's base, where a thick layer of ash had already accumulated.

The Soul Tower's killing mechanism ended in its own destruction, yet the purple-gold skeleton merely paused, then continued charging forward with relentless strides.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Three more black lightning bolts erupted; the purple-gold skeleton halted, halted again, then lurched sideways and stopped.

The remaining three Soul Towers also spewed black smoke and shut down completely.

The purple-gold skeleton seemed enraged—its charge had been interrupted? It stood there, body tensing, and transformed!

Roaring soul flames ignited, then solidified, wrapping it in a grotesque soul armor; only then did everyone realize: the Lord of Mourning that had destroyed four Soul Towers had been fighting bare-skulled?

Donning its soul armor, the purple-gold skeleton ran again.

Soul Towers were a weapon humans deeply trusted; over the past few centuries, countless undead had been annihilated by them; their range was vast—a single Soul Tower atop a mountain peak could prevent undead from crossing the ridge, day or night.

Yet now, the weapon they trusted had been destroyed one after another—only now had the enemy's soul armor been forced into view; everyone finally understood why Archbishop Daisen had screamed in terror.

Everyone shouted in unison: "Stop it! Stop it! Attack! Attack!"

Arrows, crossbow bolts, trebuchets rained down on the purple-gold skeleton; defense towers fired beams of light that struck its body.

These beams resembled the holy radiance of little angels, though weaker in power; yet with so many beams striking, the skeleton's soul armor gradually melted away, soon exposing its underlying bones.

Soul flames surged from the purple-gold skeleton, repairing the melted soul armor.

Boom! A massive stone struck the purple-gold skeleton, exploding into powder, sparking a few cheers; weapons like arrows and trebuchets had terrible accuracy—though they seemed to hit often, few actually landed on the purple-gold skeleton.

The artillerymen who managed such a direct hit were clearly blessed by the Goddess of Luck.

Yet the purple-gold skeleton emerged unscathed from the smoke, and thanks to the smoke blocking the defense towers' beams, its soul armor regenerated significantly.

Everyone realized: arrows, crossbows, and siege weapons were useless against an enemy of this caliber.

"Stop him! Stop him!" Many screamed, but how could they stop him?

The little angel was eager to charge forward; though its true wings had been tucked away by Ang, its light wings twitched restlessly.

Ang grabbed it and pulled it back.

"Ow!" The little angel tilted its head in confusion.

"Ow!" Ang growled.

"Ow!" The little angel's eyes lit up, nodding vigorously.

The "ow ow" sounds from their group reached the ears of the goblins who hadn't yet left; they froze, whirling around.

Seeing Ang clearly, the goblin opened his mouth wide, about to shout—but immediately realized something, and hurried over: "My lord, why are you here?"

"Don't ask. Stand still. Don't move." Nai Ge Li Si's voice emerged from Ang: "You're asking us? What about you? Vanishing like a ghost—your business even reached the Lands of Despair. Impressive."

This goblin was, of course, Silver Coin; yet hearing Nai Ge Li Si's words, he replied puzzled: "I reported to the lord already."

No need to ask—clearly, the report had stalled at Ang's end; Silver Coin's business held no interest for him, so he simply didn't bother remembering.

Nai Ge Li Si fell silent, then said: "Fine. Do as you please. Don't wander far—if we need to flee, I'll still take you along."

"Oh oh oh." Silver Coin obediently stepped aside.

The little angel had been restrained, but the other priestesses had not; they gradually summoned holy spirits, unfolding their light wings.

At least six priestesses, after being possessed by their holy spirits, could now release Holy Radiance; zzz… six beams of light struck the purple-gold skeleton.

The purple-gold skeleton swung its fist—once, twice… the straight beams of light were each batted aside like ping-pong balls.

Everyone refused to believe what they saw—Holy Radiance, defeated this way? How was that possible?

Nothing was impossible; Ang was not surprised at all. He remembered how the little angel had once held back an enemy's Holy Radiance alone—proper technique made breaking Holy Radiance achievable.

But the purple-gold skeleton clearly relied on brute force; after smashing the beams, its soul armor had completely dissolved from its hands.

Yet some creatures' bodies were far tougher than armor; the purple-gold skeleton's bones were harder than its soul armor—armor shattered, but its body remained unharmed.

A thunderous voice suddenly rang out from the wall: "The Lord saith: The burden of original sin is a heavy chain, binding!"

Seven thick chains of light shot up from the ground, encircling the purple-gold skeleton.

But the Chain of Original Sin could not halt the purple-gold skeleton's advance; it merely slowed slightly, and the chain grew longer as it dragged, until it snapped.

"The Lord saith: The horizon's end is an unbreakable wall, dividing the shores—Wall of the Beyond." A wall of light suddenly appeared before the purple-gold skeleton.

The purple-gold skeleton did not hesitate—it charged straight into it.

The unbreakable Wall of the Beyond shattered with a roar; Daisen's face turned pale, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

As the distance closed, the clerics, priestesses, holy spirits, and priests on the wall all unleashed their attacks: beams of pure white light erupted from the ground, glowing orbs crashed down from the walls, engulfing the purple-gold skeleton.

Yet the purple-gold skeleton did not slow; it pressed forward through all manner of assaults, unchanged in form, straight as an arrow toward the wall.

Even as its soul armor melted away, revealing all its bones, it did not stop—as if nothing could hinder it, its yearning for the wall…

A Knight of the Divine stepped forward, shouting: "Knights bathed in divine grace, the hour of sacrifice has come! Let holy light illuminate our path!"

He leapt from the wall.

The knights beside him followed without hesitation.

Several other Divine Knights were inspired and leapt down too—but many more hesitated, faltered…

The first Divine Knight to leap led his men toward the purple-gold skeleton; their power converged into one—Divine Charge!

Ahead of them, light blazed—as if holy radiance truly illuminated their path—then they collided with the purple-gold skeleton.

Have you ever seen someone play bowling? Valor cannot be converted into power; the entire team was crushed like a cart rolling over them, limbs flying, shattered and scattered.

The Divine Knights who followed behind halted in despair; the enemy was too terrifying—they felt like insects preparing to block a wheel.

"Hallelujah—Messiah—Bosia—Cisma—Anmaka—" A desperate Divine Knight pounded his breastplate, chanting a holy hymn; he stood directly before the purple-gold skeleton, a layer of white light forming on his body—Holy Protection.

Inspired by him, the other Divine Knights stepped forward, lining up, casting Holy Protection.

"It's the Wall of Holy Protection! Long live the Divine Knights!" Someone screamed hoarsely.

Boom! The purple-gold skeleton slammed into the Wall of Holy Protection, pierced through it, then slammed into the wall.

If everything were slowed, one could see: the impact point first indented; the surrounding wall rippled like water, hard stones compressed, bulging outward, then exploding.

But everything happened too fast; no one could see clearly—only the collision, the explosion, the wall shattered into a massive hole, debris and severed limbs spraying, thick smoke rolling.

The section of wall where Ang and the others stood was in Zone Four, far from the impact point in Zone One, yet they still felt the violent shock—the wall trembled, making everyone struggle to stand.

Those who could barely stand stared anxiously toward the impact site; a gaping hole was faintly visible—had the wall been breached? What now?

From the rolling smoke, something flew out and landed with a thud; upon closer look, it was a purple-gold arm—had the purple-gold skeleton also broken apart?

Before anyone could rejoice, a purple-gold skeleton emerged from the smoke, picked up its own arm, clicked it back on, moved it, then raised its right hand and said, "Huh? Where's my finger?"

On its palm, the middle finger was only half there—the other half was gone.

Ang turned to look at the dimensional beast; the big cat had slipped from Serina's arms sometime ago, its tiny paw reaching into a spatial rift, pulling back a segment of finger bone.

Seeing Ang look over, it instantly plopped onto the bone, its tiny paws gripping it, casually looking around as if nothing had happened.

Ang kept staring; realizing it couldn't be faked, the dimensional beast drew its paws under its belly, fiddled for a moment, then pushed out one segment of bone with its left paw.

The segment it had pulled was two joints long—now, one joint each.

Ang bent down and picked it up, tacitly agreeing to the trade.

The dimensional beast exhaled in relief, tucked away its own bone segment, and leapt onto Ang's shoulder, gripping his head to lift itself up, gazing far into the distance.

The purple-gold skeleton bent low, searching for a moment, but could not find its middle finger; fine, it gave up, turned its back to the wall behind it, faced the distant land of deathly silence, and bowed, letting out a long wail: "Ooo~~~"

Across the distant land, the carpet of undead creatures rippled and surged forward like a tide.

The purple-gold skeleton murmured: "Finished. Sleep." Then limped back, not even glancing behind at the wall.

The human defense line, held for over a thousand years, had been broken—and the skeleton that broke it treated it as a trivial task, eager only to return to sleep.

Yet its limping gait suggested it was not as unharmed as it appeared.

On the platform behind the wall, Daisen's legs had gone weak—he could barely stand, staring blankly at the retreating purple-gold skeleton, muttering: "Is… is this the Lord of Mourning's power? So terrifying?"

Someone came up behind him and helped him up: "My lord, we must go."

"Go?" Daisen blinked: "Where?"

His subordinate replied: "Back to the main plane. Continue the defense."

Daisen, dazed, asked: "Can we still hold it?"

"Of course. The main plane has a powerful dimensional barrier—easier to defend. And, my lord, returning to the main plane is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?"

Daisen's eyes lit up—right! From this perspective, losing the Lands of Despair didn't seem so bad.

"Go!" Reinvigorated, Daisen led his loyal subordinates straight toward the teleportation array.

But evacuating everyone in a short time was impossible; before Shengbicheng's people could all leave, the undead tide had already surged through the breach in the wall.

A lich floated at the front, shouting: "Don't kill indiscriminately! Don't kill! They're all resources! Just capture them!"

Da Gu carefully avoided other skeletons, hugging the wall to prevent bumping into anything, but soon it encountered another golden skeleton also skirting the wall.

Da Gu flailed its arms wildly: "Aoo~" It intended to scare the other into moving aside.

The golden skeleton regarded it, tilted its head, then suddenly raised its own arms at Da Gu: "Aooaoo!"